January 2003

Dear Friends,

Before these 12 days of Christmas disappear and I get caught up in the whirlwind of activities in the new year, I want to share with all of you some of my reflections on Christmas in Guatemala. It is hard to capture my thoughts and feelings and experiences but here are a few.

I don't experience the frantic hustle and bustle of activity in the days of Advent here in Guatemala that I always felt in the States. Yes, there is a lot to do, but no one walks around with a list of gifts to buy, a list of cards to send, or a list of parties to attend.

Some families put up a few decorations, maybe a string of lights, a wreath, a small artificial tree with tiny balls.

It is possible to buy the glitzy decorations "made in China" but what I enjoy are the traditional ones from Guatemala, the straw ornaments, the wreaths made of leaves, the sheep made of corn husks or wool, I even bought a reindeer made of twigs and Spanish moss!

My most favorite "before Christmas activity" is going to the Mercado Central in Guatemala. It is great, people everywhere, incense burning, selling every imaginable thing to decorate for Christmas, and most everything "made in Guatemala." Clay and plaster nativity figures, colored
sawdust, pine needles, sheep, reindeer made of wool or corn husks. You never know what you will find. I bought lovely Christmas china, mugs, plates and bowls for about $5.50. I didn't see a single Santa Claus on my two visits to the market, I know they are around, at the malls.

There are few gifts for sale in the market, mostly decorations. The gifts available there are all "made in China," plastic trucks and cars, dolls with white skin and blond hair. Most of the children I know did not receive any Christmas gifts; if they did, they probably came from a church or other charitable organization.

Back to our Christmas Eve celebration. The folks at my house were very interested in how people in the U.S. celebrate Christmas. I told them we go to church on Christmas Eve, then on Christmas morning there are presents to open. In my mind I pictured all the huge Christmas trees I have seen, covered with lights and ornaments and surrounded by stacks of brightly wrapped gifts. I could not tell them about all the gifts.

At midnight on Christmas Eve, after worship, prayer, tamales, there are fireworks! I have never quite figured out why the fireworks, but they are a part of every celebration in Guatemala.

And Christmas Day? It is a day to play! People go to the beach, to the lake, or here at the seminary, folks come by the pickup-truck load to play soccer or swim in the pool.

Christmas in Guatemala is a series of contrasts for me. The traditional ornaments made of clay or corn husks, moss or leaves or plaster, alongside the plastic ones. The quiet of worship on Christmas Eve contrasted with the boom! boom! of the fireworks. The traditional tamales compete with the frozen and live turkeys. The family gathered around a piñata where there is fun and candy for everyone, alongside the efforts of the stores to promote and sell gifts. The groups gathered for Christmas parties, and the surprise of seeing Santa Claus arrive on his motorcycle to bring gifts at one of the parties. (I was sitting in my house, enjoying the quiet, reading a book, when I heard what I thought was a car coming to my house. When I looked out the window, imagine my surprise when I saw Santa Claus riding by my window on his motorcycle!)

As I get ready to celebrate the Año Nuevo with my Guatemala brothers and sisters, (we will eat more tamales and celebrate the birthday of a little girl who lives at the seminary), I wonder about a lot of things.

I wonder how long the Guatemalans can maintain their traditional ways of celebrating Christmas in the face of enormous pressure from forces beyond their control to change them.

I wonder how I could ever explain all the gifts I see U.S. children receiving to Hilario's four children who went to church on Christmas Eve, then home to bed and never expected a gift from Santa Claus.

I wonder how my Guatemalan brothers and sisters will even be able to buy the basic food they need, ride on the bus, or find any kind of work in the face of the rising cost of everything and the announcement yesterday by President Portillo of an increase in the tariff on many basic goods.

I wonder how I can ever be a witness to people here who I love and care for, a witness to the love of God for each of them.

I wonder how all of us can better celebrate the presence of God with us in each day of the year that is coming.

Que Dios les bendiga y guarda y ayuda en su año nuevo.

Hermana Elena,

Ellen

The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 244